Life on Earth
Summer 1
This half term will be learning about bugs and will be going on lots of bug hunts. We will be learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and will hopefully set some free! We will be using some hand drills to build a bug hotel for our outdoor area.
We are also hoping to develop our outdoor space a bit more so if anyone has any compost, plant pots, tree stumps or plants we would would really appreciate them.
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- It is our turn to go to Forest School after the holidays. Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
We ended the spring term with the focus book Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs! by Paula Metcalf.
This was a very funny book, that definitely made us chuckle! We were also very lucky to receive a visit from the Easter Bunny who kindly left us all a tasty Easter egg in forest school! Thank you so much Easter Bunny and the PTA helpers!
Our final week in school was full of Easter fun, we made cube carrots in the maths area, Easter bonnets in the workshop area and used our funky fingers to cut out and make Easter chicks.
Have a happy and healthy Easter break and we will see you on Monday 20th April.
Jack and the Beanstalk
This week we’ve continued our learning using the traditional story Jack and the Beanstalk.
We’ve learnt to retell the story using our class story map and a few actions to help. Our prosody has really improved as we became more confident with the story.
Maths
In maths we’ve been doubling, we’ve used the stem sentence 2 is made of 1 and 1, double 1 is 2. Doubling numbers up to 5. We’ve also had a go at doubling the leaves on a beanstalk.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we learn a new poem and recite it every day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Hungry Birdies.
Hungry Birdies
I have built a little nest,
look inside, look inside.
Hungry birdies with their beaks,
open wide, open wide.
And the little birdies grow,
day by day by day.
‘Till they spread their wings and fly,
far away, far away.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.
Jack and the Beanstalk
ack and the Beanstalk
This week, we’ve been reading the traditional story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.
We’ve been orally rehearsing the story and we’ve begun to use a story map to help us. This week, our word of the week was gigantic. We discussed other new and interesting vocabulary from our story too: poor, furious and shoved. We will continue using this book next week for our learning.
Poetry Basket
Each week, we learn a new poem. We recite the poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. This week’s poem was called Spring Wind.
When the spring wind blows,
In her gruff and growly way,
She’s saying keep your mittens on,
I’m blowing cold today.
But when the spring wind blows,
In her soft and gentle way,
She’s saying take your jumpers off,
I’m blowing warm today.
Help at home: Ask your child to recite the poem at home and talk about the words that rhyme.
Celebrating your child’s reading: eBooks
We hope that you’re enjoying listening to your child read their eBook at home and that your child is enjoying celebrating their super reading skills!
At school, your child reads a physical book four times a week – with a focus on teaching phonics skills. This is then sent home as an eBook. The purpose of the eBook at home is to celebrate your child’s success (in phonics skills). Your child should be able to read most of this book confidently and really feel like a reader.
We’ve chosen to use eBooks at home for many benefits. Allocating eBooks frees up about two hours of teacher or TA time changing books – now spent teaching reading!
Here’s some information on how to access eBooks but if you’re having any problems please speak to your child’s class teacher.
Happy reading!
Hundred Decker Bus
This week, we enjoyed reading The Hundred Decker Bus by Mike Smith. In the story, a bus driver who is bored of his everyday routine decides to take his passengers on an unexpected adventure. As more and more passengers hop on board, extra decks have to be built onto the bus, creating a very tall and unusual ride!
Linked to the story, we’ve been learning about the differences and similarities between cities/towns and the countryside. The children have shared their ideas about what life might be like in each place and discussed what they might see, hear and do there.
Our Word of the Week is countryside. We’ve explored what this word means and how it compares to living in a busy town or city.
One of the class challenges was to make and explore ramps. This was a hugely popular challenge with so many interesting conversations.
“My car goes so fast when it goes down the ramp, but I have to push it to go back up.”
“My train crashed, it was too straight up.”
Maths
This week, we explored ordinality – learning the positions of numbers up to 8. We used key language like “more than,” “less than,” and “equal to” to describe relationships between numbers, focusing on each number’s place in the counting sequence.
Help at Home: Play a game of ‘More or Fewer?’
- Make a set of number cards from 1 to 8.
- Gather a collection of small objects (e.g., buttons, toy cars, coins) and arrange them so your child can see them clearly.
- Turn over a number card.
- Ask your child: “Do you have more or fewer [objects] than this number?”
This simple game helps children practise comparing quantities and using the language of more than, fewer than, and equal to in a fun, hands-on way!
World Book Day
We had the best time on Thursday celebrating World Book Day. We started the day with a book themed Stay and Learn that was a very busy session with so many of our grown ups coming.
Then we read the story How to be Lion by Ed Vere a heart warming children’s book about Leonard, a gentle lion who prefers writing poems to chasing ducks. When other lions pressure him to be “fierce,” Leonard and his duck friend, Marianne, prove that being yourself is important. It celebrates kindness and individuality. This was the book chosen by the Reading Ambassadors for the whole school to look at. We made some lions to add to a whole school display and talked about how we are all different and special.
We were also very lucky to welcome our Year 6 Buddies into our classroom to read with us. They were so enthusiastic and the children really enjoyed sharing books together. Thank you, Year 6! One of the other highlights was helping to write a whole school book together, we really enjoyed adding a fun Reception and Nursery spin to the story.
To finish our day, we visited the Reading Café, organised by our fantastic Reading Ambassadors. We enjoyed a biscuit and a cup of hot chocolate while sharing books together – the perfect end to a lovely day.
Throughout the day, there were so many opportunities to celebrate reading and our love of books. It was wonderful to see the children so excited about stories.
Help at home by continuing to celebrate our love of reading!
Reception parent/carer survey
If you’re a parent of a child in Reception, please complete this short survey.
At St James’ Primary, we’re always trying to keep getting better and better. Your views help us to do that. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete and you’ve got until Wednesday 18 March to complete. (If you’d like us to follow-up any of your responses with you, we can only do this if you leave your name.)
We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raised and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.
Previously, based on your feedback, for example, we alternated the days Stay and Learns were held – to give all parents an opportunity to attend.
Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. We’re looking forward to reading your views.
Word Book Day
We’re very excited to be celebrating World Book Day on Thursday in school!
If your child would like to, they can come to school dressed as their favourite book character or in something book-related. Please don’t feel any pressure to go out and buy a costume.
Throughout the day, we’ll be taking part in a range of challenges inspired by different books. One of our creative activities will be making a milk bottle Elmer. To help with this activity, we would really appreciate it if you could send your child in with an empty milk bottle (rinsed out, please!).
Love of Reading Stay & Learn
We also have a love of reading stay and learn in class on Thursday 9.00am-9.30am, you are more than welcome to join us for this session. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to watch one of our daily Poetry Basket sessions and share and enjoy lots of stories with your child.
We look forward to celebrating our love of books together!